Turning Points
by Arsione
Summary: What happens when Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy team up to bring about Voldemort's downfall? And how is Harry Potter connected to all of this? [WIP]
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: In no way, shape, or form am I claiming responsibility for the creation of Harry Potter or anything affiliated with Harry Potter. [Insert the rest of the standard disclaimer here.] This applies for the rest of the story as well- this will be the only disclaimer you'll see.

**Author's Note**: This is my first fan fiction, written mostly because I liked the idea and haven't seen it done. Half is already written and it hasn't been turning out the way I originally planned. Some of the twists that have occurred are things that normally make me want to stop reading other people's stories, so I completely understand if you feel the same way. I'm not such a huge fan of author's notes, so this will be the only one you see unless I need to clarify something, etc. until the last chapter so don't be miffed if I don't reply to a review or thank you all individually or whatever. I do appreciate any and all reviews (even "flames"), but honestly don't expect them. Thank you in advance for reviewing, if you do. And now, because this is longer than I planned for it to be, on with the story. :)

**Turning Points: Prologue**

Halfway through 6th year, Hermione Granger was pissed. She wasn't just mad, or angry or even ticked off, but full blown mind numbingly pissed off at everyone. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge wasn't doing anything about the rising threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Headmaster Dumbledore wasn't doing anything about the rising and looming, mind you, threat of the Dark Lord. Harry Potter wasn't even doing anything about the rising, looming and immediate threat of Lord Voldemort. He was too busy mourning the death of _him_ and Sirius, _still_. Hermione, in fact, believed it was Harry's fault that _he_ was dead. If he hadn't been so foolish as to involve his friends in his stupid schemes to save this person or that thing, then she and Ron wouldn't have followed him into the graveyard near Godric's Hollow and _he_ would be alive right now playing Wizard's Chess or quidditch or irritating the bloody hell out of her.

'But precious Mr. Harry Potter was as foolhardy as ever and rushed into battle without thinking...' she thought to herself. 'If only we had listened to Dumbledore and stayed put.'

_His_ death was the reason for Hermione's current isolation in the library at one in the morning. She knew that nobody could ever find out about her new chosen career for when she graduated Hogwarts and went out into the real world. She would, however, need somebody to help her. Having spent many days debating the potential of one person or another, Hermione had narrowed her decision down to two: Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy. Both were extremely cunning and well connected in the wizarding world and either would be a great asset to her team. Neither knew what she was up to, of course, and both still felt she was still some goody-goody Gryffindor with a death wish, cavorting off to certain death every time Harry Potter called. Perhaps she still was, in some ways, but something had to be done and nobody else was doing it. And they'd join her in the end, after all. They wouldn't dare refuse her.

When she thought about it hard enough, she found it odd that nobody had figured her out yet. Sure, she was still the same on the outside, nothing could change her bushy hair or less than perfect face, but her attitude was drastically different. Not once did she volunteer in any of her classes, her impeccable note taking skills were not put to use once she stepped inside any classroom anymore and she refused to hold a conversation with any of her so-called friends.

'How could they say they were ever _his _friend? If they truly were, wouldn't they be in mourning too? Wouldn't they feel as though their hearts were breaking just knowing they'll never have the chance to see _him _every again? No. Instead they're all laughing and frolicking about talking about how Gryffindor will annihilate Slytherin in the next quidditch match. Of course, quidditch. _He_ probably misses that the most.'

Her seclusion was good for her, though. It gave her more time to herself to study. Hermione had a purpose now and she wasn't going to waste any time at all attempting to fulfill what she believed to be her new destiny. A destiny she had Voldemort to thank for. And in all of his attempts at immortality, he had forgotten one thing: everything dies sooner or later. Even vampires eventually get the stake and werewolves the silver bullet. Hermione just hoped that his time was sooner rather than later. She didn't fancy waiting too long and would really rather not having to work out a way to rid the world of him. That's just too good of an act. Perhaps she'd feed Harry information on how to kill him, lead Harry to him, have Harry pull the proverbial trigger and then, when Voldemort was long gone, get rid of the "evidence", so to speak.

'Yes,' she thought, 'that'll work quite nicely.'


	2. Chapter 01

**Turning Points: Chapter One**

Cursing under her breath, Hermione headed towards the Great Hall for lunch, per Pomfrey's orders. She really needed to start paying more attention to where she was going. Bumping into McGonagall and having her discover her almost skeletal frame put a big damper on her plans. Her daily cycle (wake up, go to class, read until curfew, break into restricted section after curfew, get a few hours of sleep after all research was complete for the night) was apparently having such a negative effect on her body that Madame Pomfrey had ordered her straight into a bed, where she had been for three days straight, all the while being filled to the brim with appetite-inducing charms and sleeping potions. Her lack of sleep seemed to be apparent, as well. Luckily they believed she was only stressed about NEWTS and therefore spending all of her free time studying instead of eating or sleeping. She happily aided this belief by complaining endlessly about how she was missing class or how she was surely going to fail her Potions NEWT now since her study time had been taken away from her. To make matters worse, Hermione was only allowed out of the Hospital Wing after she had promised Madame Pomfrey that she would check back in every couple of days so the nurse could make sure she was eating and sleeping properly.

"I'll just have to speed things up a bit. Why couldn't that old bat just have left me alone for once and let me get back to my books?" Hermione whined to no one in particular.

"Now which old bat would that be, Granger?" drawled an easily recognizable voice.

"Zabini! Just the wizard I was looking for. Look, I can't talk now but, meet me at the third floor corridor after lunch," she responded, turning to walk away.

"Explain to me why I would want to meet up with a filthy mudblood such as you on a fine day such as this?" he called after her. "Or any day, for that matter," Blaise added as an afterthought.

Smiling sweetly, she replied, "Because if you don't, everybody in school will know that this was a lover's spat, especially after I go back into Gryffindor tower bawling my eyes out because you refused to meet with me. There are plenty of people currently EAVESDROPPING," at this she shot threatening glares at everybody gawking at the sight of a Slytherin and Gryffindor having a conversation in the hallway, "Who I'm sure would be willing to spread the word of me crying a river over you because you failed to show up like you promised. You wouldn't want your precious pureblood reputation soiled by a stupid mudblood such as myself on such a fine day, now would you?" Grinning, Hermione turned around and purposefully strode into the Great Hall. She felt better than she had in days and knew Zabini would take her threat seriously. If everyone else still thought her the goody-goody Gryffindor, then surely he wouldn't know that she had secluded herself from anybody who would once have been willing to beat him up for her.

After waiting for Blaise to show up for half an hour, Hermione had had enough. She stormed through the castle searching for the dark-haired idiot. Upon finding him, she shrieked, "Blaise, darling! Did you forget about our little rendezvous? I've been _waiting_ and don't think I can wait any longer!"

"Granger, you've gone crazy," he replied, sporting a bewildered look.

"Crazy for you, you big lug!" she said, slapping his arm playfully, "Now let's go get down to business, shall we?" The snickers that followed this declaration looked promising. Now she just needed him to follow her back to the third floor corridor looking like a lost little puppy and he would be ruined unless he promised to help her. Surprisingly enough, he did just that. He just added special glares for everyone who dared laugh at the situation.

Picking a random room at the end of the corridor, Hermione placed silencing and locking charms all around it. At this, Blaise had the decency to look a little scared. 'Students shouldn't be able to override the charms Dumbledore had placed all around the castle to prevent couples from locking themselves in a room doing Merlin knows what,' he thought to himself. Aloud, though, he asked, "What do you want?"

"Why Zabini, I thought that was rather obvious," she said, taking a threatening step toward him.

"Granger..." he said warningly.

"Fine, fine; you win. I want you to help me with something, but before I tell you what it is, you have to promise to listen and not tell a soul, even if you reject my proposal," she stopped here and seeing him nod his head, continued, "I plan on taking down Voldemort. To do this, I need at least one _helper_," she said, emphasizing the final word.

His incredulous reaction was enough to convince her that she had definitely picked the wrong pureblood.

"Stupid inbreeds," she muttered, shaking her head.

"If you for one minute believe that I would go against The Dark Lord, then you are bloody well mistaken. It has been my goal to be accepted as a death eater since I was born! My entire family has pledged their allegiance to The Dark Lord. You will never triumph as long as I am on my Lord's side. I promise you that—"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, uttering a silencing charm to quiet the shouting wizard, "Now which memory charm would work best on him?" After pacing for a couple minutes, she released the silencing charm and said, "Well, I guess now is as good of a time as any to practice the fundamental memory charms."

"Wha—," Blaise started.

"Obliviate."

"Now, now, Granger, that was rather dull, don't you think?" a new voice said.

"How the hell did you get in here, Malfoy?" she asked, perturbed.

"You're not the only one with special secrets, Granger," he smugly replied.

"What's your point?"

"Well, I was really just wondering why you would be wiping Zabini's memory, is all..." he asked with his typical Malfoy smirk firmly in place, all the while twirling is wand between his fingers.


	3. Chapter 02

**Turning Points: Chapter Two**

Frustrated with her decision to use a pureblood wizard to help her accomplish her goals, Hermione decided that she might as well be blunt. 'It's not like he'll understand anything else. Too much explanation would probably fry his brain,' she thought to herself.

"I'm going to be the next Dark Lord. Er, mistress, I suppose?"

"Why not just Lordess, Granger? Then you'll have a name as filthy as your blood and as stupid as your brain," he sneered. "How is a filthy mudblood supposed to take down the self-proclaimed greatest wizard _ever_?"

Ignoring his comments, Hermione replied, "Now, I really wanted Zabini to be my right hand man, but he is extremely stuck in his ways and actually _wants_ to be a mindless minion, so I guess you'll have to do." At this, she started looking him up and down, appraising him.

"Wait a minute, Granger, who says I agree to your filthy plans in the first place?"

Hermione laughed, "I honestly can't picture you kissing the hems of robes worn by a half blood when there is obviously a much better option. If you pick me, then we rule together. Queens do have more power than kings though, obviously, so you'll still be below me, but I wouldn't make you grovel and beg for your life. All that drama is overrated. Oh, and no skull with a snake coming out of its mouth on your arm either. That's just plain bloody stupid. Who broadcasts their minions to the world? 'Hello Voldemort! Do you _want _them to be captured?' Bloody idiot..." she trailed off. "I'm not even so bloody big on torture so you're pretty much guaranteed a life free of the Cruciatus Curse—unless you disagree, of course. You see, I can't have you running off and telling daddy dearest about my plans because he'll alert Voldemort and this has to be a completely surprise attack and—oh, I'm rambling again, now where was I? Oh, yes, so if you disagree, you'll have to be memory wiped just like your pal over there," she pointed a finger behind her, "And Voldemort's is the wrong side to be on anyway. He. Will. Lose. So during the battle, I guarantee I'll make you wish you had picked me," she said, smiling evilly.

Draco could do nothing but openly gape at her for her audacity to even think to take down The Dark Lord. He was in the midst of pondering her sanity when she said, "If you're going to be that way about it," and started to raise her wand.

"No! Wait a bloody minute, Granger. That's a lot to process in thirty seconds."

"Fine. Take the day. Give me your decision after dinner or it is 'Obliviate!' for you. And if you utter a word to anyone, on paper or otherwise, I guarantee you will lose your most precious body part." She smirked, turned and removed the charms she had placed, and then walked out of the classroom, leaving Draco alone with Zabini who was finally coming around and demanding an explanation.

After dinner, Hermione walked the corridors aimlessly waiting for Draco to approach her with his decision. When he didn't show by curfew, she fumed and headed up to her room contemplating all the ways to make him suffer for his insolence.

At midnight, she decided it would be best to worry about clearing his memory of that afternoon later, so Hermione headed to the library to catch up on some light reading. While contemplating the use of a hex that slowly inflicts instantly healing, but very painful knife cuts on the victim, Draco snuck up on her and sniffed, "I can't believe you would even consider going to a Zabini before a Malfoy. Do you _know _who my family is?"

"So I take it you accept?" she grinned.

"Of course. I never was one for all that purity bollocks. His blood isn't even pure."

"Mhmm," she mumbled, still flipping through Deadly Uses for Not So Deadly Curses. "You're still going to pay dearly for not heeding my warning and finding me after dinner," she added.


	4. Chapter 03

**Turning Points: Chapter Three**

Hermione outlined her plans for her eventual take down of The Dark Lord to Draco that night in the library. The plan was for him to help her find a way for Harry to defeat Lord Voldemort, among other things, and make it all look like one giant accident. Draco, however, felt that she needed more than just one other person to help accomplish the goal. Two for research was fine, but to carry out the last half of her plan, he knew she'd need followers.

Adamantly opposed to having minions like the current dark lord, Hermione refused to even listen to any of Draco's suggestions when he brought up how futile it was to attempt this with only two people. He might want to have power of his own, but he definitely didn't want to waste the opportunity by getting killed first thing out of the gates.

"No, Malfoy, I've told you already. Nobody can know about my plans! If you keep pestering me about this I'll bloody well blow your brains out!" she threatened.

"All I'm saying is that it would make a lot more sense to have just a few people on our side that we can call on in case anything goes wrong—"

"NOTHING WILL GO WRONG!"

"Think about this for a second, _Hermione_. We're planning on rushing in to kill Voldemort and all of _his _minions. He has thousands. How do you expect two _students _to kill fully trained dark wizards and witches?"

"It's very simple really," and with that, she went back to browsing for new books to read.

After staring at her for several minutes, Draco finally pulled himself together and started screaming bloody murder about how she was such a stupid filthy mudblood for even thinking they'd get past the wards sure to be in place to keep aurors and the like out.

"Look, _Draco_, you obviously haven't been paying attention. Do you know the kind of power it takes to cast a memory charm _inside _of Hogwarts without Dumbledore knowing? Hell, do you know how much power it takes to be able to break into the restricted section day in and day out and not be caught in the wards placed around all of these dark books? I'm going to hazard a guess and say no, right?"

Draco nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione cut him off, "And, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling me a mudblood. It's not nice to tell lies about people. Especially when said person is about you in rank, power and authority and would gladly remove you of your fifth limb," she said matter-of-factly.

"What in Merlin's name are you on about now? You honestly can't believe that just because you plan on being a dark witch that you're no longer of dirty blood? Even you can't be that thick!"

"Humph, no, what I meant was that I don't come from dirty blood so I'd appreciate it if you stop the insults."

"Not from dirty blood? Are you mad, woman? Your parents are muggles, are they not?"

"My _adoptive_ parents are muggles. My _real _parents are just as high up in society as yours. If not higher, in fact."

"Who, then?"

"I can't say."

"Why not?"

"Because if they find out I'm alive and going against their Lord, we're doomed. Now drop it, please," she said, smiling sweetly at him.

"You've trusted me with this much already, haven't you?" he replied haughtily.

"Yes, and look where it's gotten me— teamed up with a blasted ferret."

"But I—"

"Drop it," she said with an air of finality.

They went back to looking up various curses and writing down the ones that could be potentially helpful. At around two in the morning, Draco spoke up again, "If we brewed some polyjuice potion and dressed up like anonymous people, then we could probably get a few followers to help us with these plans..." he trailed off, hoping her reaction was a positive one.

"Yes, I suppose we could," she said slowly.

"Okay, so I have the ingredient list right here—"

"We're not making polyjuice," she said.

"But you just said that we could!"

"Yes, that we could, but not that we will," and with that, the conversation was over.

Coming to his senses and realizing what was happening, Draco said, "You know, I'm getting bloody sick and tired of you bossing me around. I'm a _Malfoy_. We do the bossing."

"Yes, but unfortunately for you, _love_, I wear the pants in this relationship," she said with a smirk, getting up to leave. "Remember to reshelf all of these books, Malfoy _darling_. Have a nice night!"

Grumbling under his breath, Hermione was sure she heard a couple less than gentlemanly words escape. "Oh, and Malfoy?"

"Yes, _dear_?" he muttered sarcastically.

"It's Zabini," she called on her way out the door.


	5. Chapter 04

**Turning Points: Chapter Four**

"ZABINI?" Draco roared, "You're related to Blaise Zabini?"

They were walking the grounds after curfew one day a month before the end of the school year. Neither was any closer to figuring out how to rid the world of Voldemort and time was running out. Hermione kept insisting the final confrontation had to take place before the first week of 7th year or it couldn't take place at all. Draco, for his part, felt he had been incredibly restrained the past few weeks by not mentioning her now obvious relation to one of his closer friends in Slytherin. Lately, however, his nerves had been fried by their lack of success and it all tumbled out on the clear night.

"Apparently," she dully replied.

"How do you know?" he demanded.

"If you _must _know, his parents came and visited me. It appears that they'd been keeping tabs on me and were all ready to intercept any owl sent to my house to keep me from every getting my acceptance letter and therefore my entrance into Hogwarts. I guess they thought I'd figure it out sooner or later. What they didn't know was that Dumbledore came to my house personally to welcome me into the wizarding world. I guess he had an idea about what was going on and wanted to make sure I'd make it. I was apparently a bloody brilliant witch, even at 11," she said, smiling smugly. "Since their plans were foiled, they introduced themselves to me as my real parents and told me I wasn't to tell a soul and a bit of other rubbish like that. I guess my parentage is the real reason why I wanted Zabini to be my partner. 'Keep it in the family' seems to be the pureblood motto, eh Malfoy?" she snickered.

Draco remained silent for a few minutes, contemplating all that she had told him. If she was telling the truth, then he knew she really was as powerful as she had been suggesting all this time. It would also make sense that she had turned evil, even if it had taken a bit longer than it should have. Instead of telling her to sod off, as was his instinct, Draco merely said, "Prove it. Prove to me that you are a true member of the Zabini clan."

"Must we always play these games, Draco dearest?"

"I'm risking a lot for you Granger. You at least owe me some sort of proof that you are what you say you are."

"Fine, Malfoy, if it'll appease you. Meet me at the Shrieking Shack next Hogsmeade weekend."

"Good. And now, while we're on the topic, the polyjuice idea I had would work splendidly right about now. We have enough time to make it and gather a few supporters..." he trailed off.

"Okay, get to work on it. I'm getting tired of your helpless whining anyway. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you were a direct descendent of Wormtail," she spat.

Sniffing indignantly, he responded, "How utterly laughable that thought is."

"Not from my side of the fence," she snorted.

"So who do I make them as? Any brilliant ideas yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I already have it all worked out. I'll bring you the hairs when the polyjuice is ready," she smirked.

"Who, then?"

"That, dear Malfoy, is a surprise. Now let's get going. The sun is starting to rise and I, for one, don't want to be caught out of bed this early in the morning. I already get enough slack from McGonagall and Pomfrey about my 'horrid study habits' and how they'll 'drive me to certain insanity someday'."

They slowly walked back to the castle, each comforted in the presence of the other, not knowing that a certain headmaster had witnessed the entire scene from the window in his office.


	6. Chapter 05

**Turning Points: Chapter Five**

Unbeknownst to anyone but himself, Headmaster Dumbledore kept a close watch on the two students after witnessing their walk on the grounds. How he wished he had had an extendable ear to hear their conversation. It was driving him mad that he, the omniscient headmaster, did not know what the two students were up to. They were as different as night and day and he could find no reason for their sudden closeness.

'Perhaps,' he wondered, 'it would be a good idea to give them more opportunities to be together without causing suspicion. Miss Granger must be doing a world of good for Mr. Malfoy. It can only help our side in the upcoming war if they team up and he does know a lot about Voldemort and his supporters,' Dumbledore mused. 'Yes, they would make an excellent pair for Head Boy and Head Girl. Mr. Malfoy is, of course, a Malfoy and would expect nothing less than this prestigious title.

'It'll also keep Lucius from trying to overthrow the Board of Governors again if young Mr. Malfoy is in a place of power where he can "spy" on me... And Miss Granger... well, Miss Granger is the brightest student Hogwarts has seen since Tom Riddle. It's only natural that she should become Head Girl. How fortunate it is for us that she is on our side.'

The next night, in the Room of Requirement, Draco was grilling Hermione on the uses of different curses. He already had them all memorized; one can't grow up with Lucius Malfoy as a father and not learn how to inflict pain on an opponent. 'How strange that the goody-goody Gryffindor's favorites are all hexes used to inflict the maximum amount of pain and leave no evidence whatsoever that anything was ever used,' he thought.

Hermione, however, wasn't paying much attention to Draco's quizzing. She knew it all by heart already as well. After all, one can't study something for a year and not learn it. It's impossible.

"Malfoy," she started, "Can we cut it out with the constant drilling? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were _trying_ to act like a prat."

"I just enjoy taking my daily frustrations out on you dear."

"No, you're just a prat," she said, smiling. Hermione often wondered why she ever let Draco in on her plans. To her, he was nothing but an annoying inbred pureblooded insufferable git and she regretted her decision almost every minute she was in his presence. Then again, she figured he still thought of her as some insufferable and bossy know-it-all.

'Maybe if I had let the Zabini's cat out of the bag instead of acting like a good little subservient mudblood, things could have been different for Dra— Malfoy and myself. He is kind of nice when he keeps his mouth shut... No, he is not cute. Ever,' she reprimanded herself. 'But still, what happens when we defeat Voldemort? I don't think I'll want to just disappear into some boring Ministry job. This power thing is a bit addicting and I'm sure my want for more of it won't dissipate after the job is done...

'Malfoy and I could rule this place. Fudge is basically in the Malfoys' back pocket anyway, and I'm sure he'd love to hand over his power to Drac— MALFOY, if given the right incentives. But do I really want to battle my only supporter? No, we'll have to be joined. Before that happens though, I'll have to make sure his darling father is out of the way; Fudge surely favors him more. And Lucius himself would be opposed to such a marriage, I'm sure.

'Hmm... marriage... to a Malfoy...' a giddy feeling rushed through her at the thought of being wed to Draco. 'Ugh,' she thought. 'I'm calling him Draco and feeling giddy at the thought of marrying him. I've definitely lived in the same room as Lavender and Parvati for way too long...'

Her head dropped into her hands and she groaned, causing Draco to look up at her with a questioning look. When she didn't look up, he cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't' know Dark Ladies groaned like schoolgirls," he whispered.

In reply, she stuck her tongue out and told him to go stuff himself. "Very mature, Granger. Am I supposed to be the grown up in this relationship? Do you plan on regressing all the way back to childhood? Be sure to let me know so I can leave," he sniffed.

"Relationship, Draco? Why sweetie, I didn't know you cared," she said, monotone, while batting her eyelashes.

"Care? As if. You may have pure blood, but that doesn't mean my standards have lowered any."

"Hah," she snorted, "If your standards are so bloody high, explain Parkinson to me."

"That was completely my father's doing," he grumbled. "The Parkinson family is very high up in society, I'll have you know."

"Funny... I could've sworn the Zabini's were better off than the Parkinson's..."

"They are." When she looked at him questioningly, he added, "_You_ are a Granger. Of the _muggle _Grangers."

"I'm sure a simple blood test would prove otherwise."

"So would a lot of other things..." he trailed off.

"Such as?"

"Well, your appearance definitely doesn't coincide with the Zabini appearance. All old pureblood families' children look just like that," he explained.

"Maybe I'm the exception to the rule—" she started.

"Granger," he whined, "There _are _no exceptions to the rule.

"And why not," she demanded

"Exceptions to the rule are taken out into the forest and left to die," he explained, narrowing his eyes. Draco was beginning to doubt the validity of her claim. No Zabini would be allowed to live if it had such disastrous hair.

"Must you be such a difficult git?"

"It's a gift. Comes with being a Malfoy," he said proudly.

"Then I surely pity whomever gets stuck with you," she retorted.

"As much as I enjoy these verbal sparring matches, are you going to explain or am I going to tell the world that you're studying the dark arts?"

"Hogsmeade weekend."

"_Granger_," he warned, but all she would do is repeat "Hogsmeade weekend" so he eventually gave up and turned to head back to the Slytherin dorms, leaving the cleaning up to Hermione. Before he left, though, Draco couldn't resist the chance to taunt her a little.

"Why Granger, if _I _didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous you don't have a chance," he said with a wink.

"Where did that come from?"

"Just continuing our original conversation..."

"Okay... That's right. I'm jealous. Draco Malfoy _please _be mine! I want to love you forever and ever and—"

"Stop it, Granger. You're making a fool of yourself," he growled.

"You asked for it." And with a smirk and wave of her hand, Hermione left Draco standing alone in the center of the messy room.

"That utter _witch_," he fumed.

Professor McGonagall was waiting for her when she got back to her common room. "Miss Granger, please come with me. Headmaster Dumbledore wishes to have a word with you."

"Am I in any trouble, Professor?" Hermione inquired.

"No, dear. This is something completely different altogether."

They walked the rest of the way in silence, McGonagall brimming with carefully contained excitement and Hermione filled with fear that she and Draco had been found out. If Dumbledore knew the nature of their relationship, or that they were civil to each other at all, he would surely be suspicious and make it his goal to discover the reason. And, since Dumbledore was good at finding this sort of stuff out, she knew their wands would be snapped and they'd be expelled. She couldn't go back to the muggles. Now that she knew she was a true witch, Hermione wanted it to stay that way. She _needed _it to stay that way. For _him_.

"Jelly Belly," Professor McGonagall said.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Jelly Belly?"

"Yes, you well know the Headmaster has an affinity for sweets," McGonagall said.

Draco and Professor Snape were already there when they arrived at the office door. Hermione and Draco were sure to throw each other looks of disgust, but inwardly were both a little frightened. What cause did Dumbledore have to bring them both up to his office? With their heads of houses, no less!

"Malfoy," Hermione spat.

"Granger," he replied, tipping an imaginary hat. She snorted. "How... ladylike," he drawled.

"You'd know, wouldn't you ferret?" she asked.

"Now, children, behave yourselves!" McGonagall sternly interrupted.

Professor Dumbledore chose that exact moment to step into the outer office from a room in the back.

"Good afternoon, children," Professor Dumbledore started, "I'm sure you're both wondering why I've called you here tonight."

'Afternoon? Is the man completely daft? It's ten o'clock at night! And it's a given that we're wondering why we're here... _he's_ the omniscient one,' Draco thought.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, I assume you are doubly curious. In that case, let me begin. But first, would anybody care for a lemon drop?" he asked, holding out the tray. "No? Okay then. First, let me just say that you are both extremely intelligent individuals. In fact, I find it quite hard to believe that neither of you seem to care too much for one another. You're actually very similar," he said, giving Draco and Hermione knowing looks. They looked at each other with fake disgust before looking at the ground, knowing where this was going.

'Oh Merlin, he knows. He knows and he's going to expel us and then it'll be over and I'll have to live like a muggle in a suburb and I'll end up like Harry's Aunt Petunia and be one of those nosy people who smell like cabbage with a hundred cats and thick glasses and neon pink blazers..." she trailed off as Professor Dumbledore started speaking again.

"That is why I believe you would make an excellent pair for Head Boy and Head Girl," he ended.

Both of their heads snapped up, shocked, and they said, "What?!"

"Yes, yes, you would be fine examples for the students. I do, however, expect you to control your fighting in the halls, Mr. Malfoy. And you, Miss Granger, will have to cut down on your study time to make time to plan all of the activities we will have going on next year. I suspect it will be the busiest either of you have seen."

"C-cut down on my st-study time?" she replied, incredulous.

"Oh, come off it Granger. I'm sure you know all the books in the school by heart by now anyway," Draco said.

Both Hermione and Professor Snape looked at him with shocked faces clearly evident at the obvious complement. If Snape hadn't known any better, he would have sworn he saw something flash between the two. 'No,' he thought. 'There's no way a Malfoy would associate with a mudblood. Especially not when that mudblood is best friends with Harry Potter.' Snape also knew that Lucius had put a charm on Draco's family crest ring to make sure he spent his time in the company of purebloods and there was no way to detect or remove the charm.

"Now, let me tell you that this is still only a possibility. We still must speak with the Board of Governors for the school and have them approve the appointments. Do know that I fully expect them all to agree with me and that you two will end up in these positions. This will mean that you will both be spending a lot of time with one another. The Head's common room connects to each of your respective rooms and common rooms, however only a Gryffindor will be allowed into Gryffindor and only a Slytherin into Slytherin. The same rules will apply to you both.

"You will, however, have the ability to deduct points, assign detentions and miss class when necessary to take care of anything that falls within your responsibilities."

Hermione looked ready to interrupt when he continued with, "Class can be made up with the respective teacher, with me, or with another teacher adept at the subject at your leisure, should you need it. You, Miss Granger, will undoubtedly do fine without even needing the make up time. Just be sure that, should you miss class, you find out the homework assignment from another student or the teacher before the next day to ensure you remain caught up."

Professor Dumbledore continued explaining the responsibilities and it was after eleven o'clock when they were finally released and escorted back to their common rooms by their professors.


	7. Chapter 06

**Turning Points: Chapter Six**

Draco found out why nobody ever used this loo the next night while tending to the polyjuice potion. They were using Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, as it had worked well in second year when Hermione had used it. Draco was sure that somebody would walk in on him when he was working on it in the middle of the day, but Hermione had assured him that nobody ever came near the room.

As soon as he was finished with the stirring and adding of ingredients, Draco rushed out of the bathroom and to the room of requirement to let his frustrations out. Instead of it being empty, however, he found Hermione in there dueling with... Potter?

"What the BLAST is going on in here?" he roared.

Hermione stopped at once and muttered a charm which stopped the Harry Potter replica from moving. Looking at him reprovingly, she started screaming about wanting some privacy to practice, not wanting to smell like cabbage and a couple of other things about cats or bats or something just as confusing before demanding to know what he wanted.

"I just wanted something to punch. Care to volunteer yourself, love? But on the other hand, Potter will be just fine. Now move out of the way and watch a man do battle."

Hermione stepped out of the way and muttered the charm to turn the Harry Potter double into advanced mode, enjoying the chance to watch Draco squirm. He floundered a bit at first, not ready for the attack, and soon started taunting the double, attempting to make it foul up. After about half an hour of watching the ridiculous duel, Hermione whispered the charm to stop the Harry Potter double from moving and started hexing Draco herself from behind. Not prepared for such an attack, he soon fell prey to her curses and was forced to concede admit defeat.

Grumbling about his verbal battle now working on the now immobile Harry Potter, Draco grew even angrier when Hermione burst out laughing, Quickly turning around and pointing his wand at her throat, he asked, "Exactly what is so bloody funny, Granger?"

"Just that you're so mad about Harry not responding to your taunts..." she trailed off, bursting into a fresh bit of giggles.

Slightly perturbed that she wasn't afraid of him in the least, even though he was holding her up against the wall at wand point, Draco pushed his wand deep into her throat and demanded an explanation. "You will tell me, Granger, or you'll be in so many pieces they won't even know you're human," he threatened.

"It's... not... even... Harry," she said in between snorts of laughter. "Now please remove your wand... from... my neck before... I curse you _again_."

"What do you mean 'it's not Potter?'" he asked, bringing his wand back slightly. "That," he pointed at the prone figure of Harry Potter, "Is most definitely The-Boy-Who-Wouldn't-Die."

"No, it most definitely is not."

"EXPLAIN!"

"First, I don't need to explain myself to you. _You _belong to me. I do not and will not ever belong to you. However, since you asked so nicely," she said with a sneer, "I needed a sparring partner. _That_," she pointed at the same area of the room Draco just had, "Is what the room gave me. Harry would never use dark curses against me or anyone, for that matter. He's too nice of a person. That niceness is what is going to get him killed. Your failure to bait this Harry just goes to show you that you can't always depend on you mouth to get you out of everything. Don't waste energy attempting to weaken them with your mind.

"And telling people that you're a Malfoy won't do you any good during a war, either. Especially not when your father is on Voldemort's side and plans on bringing you there with him. The strategy half of your dueling aptitude is seriously lacking. You do make up for it with your knowledge of the most inane curses, though. Too bad your father knows them too and has undoubtedly passed on the knowledge to those on that side.

"We'll need to create some curses of our own, Draco. It'll help us immensely. And let's make sure that there are no possibilities for counter curses. I don't need them to recruit Snape back or anything and have him create potions to cure any fallen Death Eaters. Once they're down, they need to stay down. Agreed?"

"Yeah, Granger, sure," he nodded.

"Great! Now how's that polyjuice coming?"

"It's coming. That's actually why I came here. You never told me that—that _thing _lives in there! Incessantly talking about me dying so we can spend eternity together in her U-bend... completely mutters, I tell you. For a ghost, she's surprisingly lacking."

"You've never heard of Moaning Myrtle?"

"Well I don't normally pay attention to gossip regarding the girl's bathrooms, no. But now I know why nobody ever goes in there. You'd have to be insane to want to be anywhere near that ghost. Give me Peeves any day," he said, laughing.

Shocked they were having a civilized conversation, Hermione quickly switched topics. "So who were you planning on asking to join us?"

"Crabbe and Goyle, naturally. But also, I thought we'd try Blaise again and there are about five Ravenclaws who are to go to the Death Eater initiation ceremony next year who are likely to switch to our side in order to beat him. From what I've heard, they don't want to join, but are being pressured by their parents. Maybe we could even get a spy out of one of them. They're smart enough to be trained in Occlumency and other things of that sort," he said.

"I'll agree to everyone except Zabini. I gave him a chance and now he'll just have to go down with the rest of his family."

"It's your family too, Hermione. Even if you never knew them on a familial level, they're yours. They created you. Give him a chance, he's been brainwashed since birth to believe this stuff. And if he refuses again, you can always zap his memory. That's what we'll have to do to the others who say no. Not that I believe they'll say no, of course," he quickly added, seeing her frown of disapproval.

"Fine. Invite him."

Draco smiled, knowing he had won the battle. That smile quickly turned into a frown, however, knowing that if he added up the points, Hermione was definitely winning their war.

It was almost the end of the school year and they were no closer to figuring out how to get rid of Voldemort than they were before. Neither was showing any worry although both knew that time was running short and that it was unlikely they would find anything at this point.

So, instead of searching through musty books every night, they spent their time in the room of requirement coming up with new hexes. After a week's night's worth of work, they had managed to create one that would cause a lot of internal bleeding and damage, but leave the victim unaware of any damage until they dropped dead. At first they weren't sure how they were going to test it, but the last day they entered the room, there were several cages of mice waiting for them. Draco marveled at the work of the room of requirement and demanded they have one installed in their castle.

"Our castle," Hermione replied?

"Er, yes." Draco face was flushed and Hermione could see his discomfort. "You see, I supposed that after we beat him we could... er... bollocks I'm starting to sound like a Gryffindor," he muttered.

"Watch it!" Hermione said.

"You're not a Gryffindor. I don't know how you fooled that bloody hat, but you're not. Zabini's are never anything but Slytherin. I'm sure you're a huge disappointment to your family, aren't you?"

"No, I'm sure I'm not. They don't even care that I still exist. And it wouldn't look good if a _mudblood _was sorted into a predominantly pureblooded house, would it? I'd have been eaten alive the second I stepped into the common room. You would probably have been first on the list to give me a sound beating."

"I'm shocked you would believe such a thing, Hermione," he drawled. "Had you told us and proven to us your true nature, we would have protected you as our own. Blaise might have had a little trouble accepting it, but he's a big boy and has always been mature..."

"He knows already."

"He _knows_?!"

"Yes. He found out mid-first year, if I remember correctly. We sense each other. It is part of the territory of being a twin," she replied.

"TWINS?"

"Yes."

"And you're willing to let him go down with Voldemort?"

"Hey, I gave him a chance to switch sides. We could have been one of those brother and sister duos you hear about all the time. Like Donnie and Marie, only evil overlords and minus the whole singing career..."

"Singing career? I can see it now, Granger. 'Dark Lord and Lady perform tonight! 50 Euros a seat! Don't miss the wonderful duo!' You'd wear matching sequined outfits, yours being skimpy, of course," Draco retorted sarcastically.

"Muggle knowledge is becoming, Malfoy. You should prove you have something in that brain of yours more often."

"It's good to know your enemy," he defended.

"Does bad ol' Draco Malfoy have a soft spot for muggles?" she prodded.

"NO! My father just made sure I had a basic knowledge of all things muggle in case we were forced to go into hiding and had to live as muggles for the briefest of periods."

"Mhmm, sure."

"What do you want me to say? That I have some fetish for fashions and music of the seventies?"

"Yes, I believe that something along those lines would be sufficient," she smiled.

"Well, you're to be disappointed. All families who follow Voldemort were smart enough to know that they might eventually be caught or sought after by the Ministry. We're not all egotistical bastards. And because of the "ifs" in life, parents teach children certain things about the muggle world in case we had to prove knowledge of such things. Taking that Muggle Studies class Hogwarts offers helped some, too," he added.


	8. Chapter 07

**Author's Note: **I'm in the middle of Charlie's path, so I might not be able to access the internet for a few days if we're forced to evacuate or anything like that. It doesn't seem like that would happen, but you never know. Chapter 08 is 85% finished, so I'll hopefully be able to update tomorrow or the day after if the storm turns out to be a bust.

****

**Turning Points: Chapter Seven**

The next night found Hermione and Draco in the library again. Even after hours of futile searching, the two kept looking for new books to help them with their goal.

Just when Draco was ready to burn the entire library down, Hermione shrieked in triumph and exclaimed, "I've got it!"

"Well? What is it?" Draco interrupted.

"It's so simple that I can't believe I never thought of it before. It's sure to work. Oh Merlin, Draco, we've got it!" She jumped up and gave Draco a celebratory hug. "Uh, er, right..." she said, blushing and starting to back away. Draco stopped her progress and put his hands on her waist, pulling her back to him. "Dra—I mean, what are you doing?" she demanded in no more than a whisper.

"This," he replied, closing the distance between their mouths and kissing her hard.

Shocked, Hermione opened her mouth to gasp, which he took as an invitation to deepen the kiss.

Forgetting everything, Hermione leaned into him and got lost in the moment. After several minutes of snogging, she pulled away and gave him a curious look.

It was Draco's turn to look flustered, for which he mentally reprimanded himself, 'Malfoys don't look flustered. We don't blush, stutter, not know what to do or say and we definitely don't get flustered. Pull yourself together!' Out loud, however, he said, "I _knew _you were jealous of Parkinson," donning the perfect Malfoy smirk.

"Oh, you're incorrigible," she said, smacking his chest playfully.

He just smiled. Then, with a perfectly stoic face, he said, "Really though, a Malfoy is better than a Potter or a Weasley any day, eh?"

Her face instantly fell and she separated herself from Draco and ran out of the library.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" he raged to the empty library.

Meanwhile, up in her dorm room, Hermione was having a right fit. Books were thrown, papers were torn up and tears were shed.

She eventually fell asleep and ended up staying asleep through her first class. 'Oh shite,' she thought, 'how am I going to explain this to McGonagall? She's going to be pissed! How am I ever going to make Head Girl now?'

Groaning, she sat up and took notice of her surroundings for the first time. "I'm in the Hospital Wing!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, Miss Granger. It's good you're awake. Here, take these potions now." Madame Pomfrey told her.

"But how did I get here?"

"Mr. Malfoy came to us quite distraught after you missed breakfast and demanded we go and find you at once," the nurse said.

"M—Malfoy?" Hermione questioned.

Madame Pomfrey gave her an appraising stare, "Yes, Draco Malfoy. He was quite worried about you."

"Why would you listen to Malfoy about anything that has to do with me?"

"He claims, Miss Granger, that you two are _involved_. He was even muttering under his breath about how this probably ruined things and the words 'marriage' and 'our castle' popped up quite frequently."

"Did they now..." Hermione smirked, trailing off in thought. 'So he wants marriage, eh? I wonder how much torture I could put him through,' she wondered. 'I _am_ curious as to what changed his mind all of a sudden though. I had thought it would have taken at least a showing of what I can do to convince him that we're truly equals... Oh well, this makes my life a whole lot easier, I suppose...'

"Miss Granger," Madame Pomfrey said, clearing her throat and bringing Hermione back form her thoughts, "Is there any foundation to any of what he has claimed?"

"Hah! That git wishes," she snorted. Madame Pomfrey gave her a reproving look, but moved on to other sections of the Hospital Wing, satisfied with the girls answer.

Inside, Hermione was secretly happy that he cared so much and realized that he probably had no clue what had happened last night. "Dear Merlin," she gasped, "I'm screwed."

"Dear Merlin is right," said a voice from behind her. "Now care to explain yourself?"

"I don't have to explain anything to _you_, Malfoy," she retorted.

"Oh, I think you do," he growled dangerously. Draco moved around to the side of the bed and locked eyes with her. Hermione wondered if he knew that his look was impassiveness was belied by the fire in his steely eyes.

"How long have you been standing there," Hermione asked.

"Long enough."

"So you heard what Madame Pomfrey said?"

"Yes," he said, gritting his teeth. "Now explain."

Hermione was silent for a few minutes before saying, softly, "Any mention of _him _anymore ruins me."

"Him _who_, Hermione?"

"Ron," she choked out, breaking down into sobs.

Draco briefly wondered what the youngest male Weasley had done to her when he realized that the Weasel had been suspiciously missing from Hogwarts all year. "What did that git do, Hermione," he demanded.

"He—he died, that's what 'that git' did!"

"Did the world a favor, did he then? Remind me to thank him the next time I see him," Draco said with a wink.

"That's not funny! Don't you dare ever make fun of him again, do you hear me, Malfoy?" she screamed.

Not perturbed by her outburst in the least, Draco replied, "Why didn't I know? In fact, why doesn't _anybody _know?"

"It was covered up by the Ministry. They're still trying to pretend Voldemort doesn't exist anymore so they told everyone, his _family_ included, that he's in Beauxbatons for an exchange program this year. Merlin only knows what they'll tell them at the end of the year. Only four people know the truth of what happened," she said, no longer crying.

"But that means..." he trailed off, connecting the missing pieces of the puzzle.

"Yes," she said, "Voldemort killed _him_. So I'm going to kill Voldemort."

"But why?" She gave him a look. "I mean, people normally mourn friends when they pass, then they move on. You don't decide on attempting something that surely could mean your death and try to stop the darkest wizard since Grindelwald just because a friend is killed by him, Hermione."

"We weren't just friends. We were to be married next summer, Draco," she said, softly.

Draco's eyes widened at that confession, "Married? As in he was your fiancé? As in 'oh baby let's not wait for our wedding night' engaged?" It suddenly all made sense to him. He had mentioned being better than a Weasley last night and it probably brought his death rushing back to the surface. He mentally smacked himself for doing something so stupid.

"Yes," she said, a tear slowing falling down the side of her face.

"So that's where this plan came from?" he asked, already knowing the answer. 'Hell has no wrath like a woman scorned,' he thought, shaking his head. 'If I didn't hate the bastard, I'd almost feel sorry for him.'

"Yes."

"So how does Potter fit into all of this? Why kill him? He's your last link to Weasley."

"_Harry_," she spat, "is too bloody busy grieving Sirius and _him _to do anything himself. And he's the reason _he_'s dead. If Harry hadn't been so foolhardy, we wouldn't have been in any of the places we were and his godfather and best friend wouldn't be dead right now. It's his fault and he. will. pay." She finished.

"I'm all for ridding the world of the _wonderful_ Potter, Hermione, but I need to know that you won't get rid of him and Voldemort and then want to disappear. We can do this, Hermione—rule together and live like royalty..." she interrupted his dialogue with a snort. "Draco, you _already _live like royalty," she pointed out.

"But we could rule," he pointed out, "_together_."

"I, um... I have to go find Harry," she said, getting up and out of the hospital bed and preparing to leave the infirmary.

Draco just stood there watching her. Now that she knew what he wanted, he wasn't going to hold back. Luckily for him, it was Friday and they'd be going to Hogsmeade tomorrow. He planned on laying on the charm and impressing her. He knew he'd be in for a few surprises as well, with all she had promised to show him...


	9. Chapter 08

**Author's Notes**: Charley is over- My whole housing development didn't have power for three days. Yuck. Another tropical storm/hurricane is supposed to come my way, but will hopefully just pass right by. Pray for everything to just pass by Orlando from now on. :) I have chapter 09 finished and will try to upload that tonight, but I'm not promising anything. This story is turning out to be longer than I ever imagined.

**Turning Points: Chapter 08**

Hermione found Harry in the Gryffindor common room staring into the cackling fire in the hearth, completely oblivious to all the noise around him. Dean and Seamus were playing a game of Exploding Snap not too far from him, but Harry didn't even flinch when there was an explosion. She tapped him on his shoulder and he turned around. Hermione couldn't help but give him a reassuring smile after seeing the forlorn look on his face. His eyes had almost totally lost their normal mischievous sparkle. "Hey Harry," she said.

"Hi Hermione," Harry replied. "Long time, no see. Where've you been lately?"

"Oh, you know... studying for NEWTS, the usual." He just nodded. "Can we go talk?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure." She led him away from the hubbub of the center of the common room and when they reached a secluded corner of the common room, full of overly plush chairs and a table for studying, Harry asked, "How've you been, Mione?"

"Good. Busy studying and all. You?"

"Same," he replied. She could tell from the look on his face that he didn't believe her. She knew because it was the look she had often given him right after Sirius' death the previous year.

"Look, Harry, I'm not going to beat around the bush. I've found a way for you to defeat him." At this, Harry's lethargic appearance disappeared and he snapped to attention. "You what?" he asked.

"I know how to kill Voldemort."

"Oh, okay. For a second there I thought you said you knew how to defeat—"

"I did. I know how, Harry! Isn't it wonderful?" When he didn't reply, Hermione got worried. She slid out of her chair and knelt on the ground beside Harry, trying to get his attention. "Well? Don't you even want to know how?" she demanded.

"No," he answered. "I don't."

"And why not?"

"Hermione, I appreciate all you've done. Really, I do. Merlin knows nobody else has been able to find an answer to all of this, but I just want to put this Voldemort mess behind me. I don't need these pressures anymore!" he proclaimed.

"You can't just walk away from your destiny, Harry..."

"Yes, I can. _You_ kill Voldemort. You know how to, so go do it. Be my guest. Steal the bloody spotlight from me, I don't want it."

"It has to be you, Harry," she replied, feeling exasperated.

"Me? ME?" he laughed. The occupants of the common room turned their ears toward the commotion in the corner and attempted to listen it. It had been a long time since any of them had seen The-Boy-Who-Lived talking, much less yelling at his best friend. "It's never been me," he continued, in undertones for only Hermione to hear. "It's always been 'The-Boy-Who' this and 'The-Boy-Who' that. Nobody cares about Harry bloody Potter. They just care about The-Boy-Who-Can-End-This-War. Even if I do defeat Voldemort, but die doing it, nobody would mourn me. Sure they'd probably put up statues and do dances at midnight on Halloween or something equally bloody stupid, but who would actually _mourn_? I have nobody, Hermione. Not one single bloody person. So go find Neville. Let him be the savior of the wizarding world. Dumbledore said it himself... it could have been either of us. Just leave me alone with this saving the world bollocks. I'm over it."

"Harry, listen to me carefully because I'm only saying this once. STOP THIS BLOODY SELF-PITYING BIT AND HEAR ME OUT. You're the one Voldemort chose to defeat him and nobody else is capable of doing it. Okay?"

"Whatever, Mione. Just get on with it so I can get back to moving on with my life," he muttered.

"Harry, please, just get over it already. They're dead. They're not coming back. It's _not _your fault, either," she lied.

"I _said_ whatever. Just tell me what you want me to do."

Hermione explained that since Harry's blood had been used to bring Voldemort back to his human form, only he, Harry, would be able to bring about the destruction of the Dark Lords human form.

"We already knew that, Hermione," Harry interrupted.

"Yes, but do you know why?"

"I've always assumed it has something to do with the fact that I'm such an extremely lucky person and have been connected to Voldemort in so many ways that this is just the icing on the cake," he said sarcastically.

"That's cute, Harry, very cute," Hermione replied. "But the real reason is that because your blood was used to make him rise again, your blood is the only thing able to take him down. You did give it unwillingly, didn't you?" she asked to confirm.

Harry just gave her a look and said, "Nah, Hermione. Old Voldemort and I sat down for tea one day and when he asked for some of my blood to help him become strong enough to actually succeed in killing me, I said 'Sure ol' buddy, ol' pal. I'd be happy to seal my fate by bleeding into a cup for you.'"

"So," she started, ignoring his last remarks, "Since you're both essentially the same person now, you both can't stay living. It just won't work. As such, there are two possible ways of getting rid of Voldemort and avenging all of the people he has killed." She paused to look Harry over and make sure he was okay with handling all of this. There was a bit of information that was morbid and she didn't want him fainting and falling face-first onto the soft rugs lining the floor. "Okay, your first option is the old fashioned Muggle way of killing—you could slit his throat."

"Wait a minute, you want me to WHAT?" Harry asked.

"Um, yes, it is a little gruesome, but it would be over after one swipe of the blade. Of course, the knife would have to be tempered and soaked with your blood or it just wouldn't work..."

He gave her a dubious look after hearing this option. "If that's the first thing you came up with, I'm not sure I want to hear the second one. If it involves a wooden stake through the heart or something like that, you can definitely count me out," he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"No, it's nothing like that. This second option is actually much simpler than the first. Easier, too. It's the one I'd pick to use if I were you. You just need to lock wands with him again, but this time, both of you have to have cast a simple Avada Kedavra at one another."

"Simple?" he asked. "Simple Avada Kedavra? You must be barking. That's the _killing _curse, Mione. It's used by _killers_," he emphasized.

"If you think you could get the guts to stab him or something, be my guest. That is, you know, if you can even get close enough to him, alive, with the knife still in your possession and with him not knowing," added Hermione.

"That's impossible and you know it."

"Killing curse it is then?"

"I'll have to think about this, Hermione," he replied. After this, Harry got up and walked back to the main section of the common room.

"This has to be done before the next school year starts!" she called after him. Harry just shrugged his shoulders and continued walking.


	10. Chapter 09

**Author's Note**: This is somewhat short compared to the previous few chapters, I know. It seemed like a good place to end it and I don't have enough of the next scene worked out to add it to this. I'm also currently in the process of moving and don't exactly have reliable internet access yet- area was hit hard by the hurricane and the internet frequently goes down. I will post as often and much as possible though! :) Thank you to anyone and everyone who has read this far!

**Turning Points: Chapter 09**

The next day was the start of Hogsmeade Weekend. Hermione, knowing she'd have to prove herself to Malfoy, prepared herself for a grueling day. Dressing in her most Muggle clothes, jeans and a jumper, she mentally reviewed what she planned to do. When ready, she headed out of her dorm room, which was littered with the clothes and make-up items of Lavender and Parvati, and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

After eating her fill, Hermione looked across the Hall at the Slytherin table and nodded to Draco. She then got up and left, joining the group of students waiting in line for Filch to check them off the list. She arrived at the Shrieking Shack about half an hour before Draco, as planned. When he did arrive, he didn't see Hermione, but a girl who looked vaguely familiar, even though he knew he had never seen her before. Believing Hermione to be late, he began to walk past the building with plans to circle around and come back in a few minutes when the girl called out to him. "And just where do you think you're going, Malfoy?" a familiar voice called.

'Only three people have ever said my last name with such disdain,' he thought to himself, not turning around. 'One is dead; one is hopefully more masculine than that person sounded and the last...' "Granger," he drawled, finally turning around and staring into her now blue eyes.

"Malfoy," she replied. "Is this good enough proof for you or do you still require that blood test?" she asked. With a wink, she twirled around, giving him a full 360 degree look.

"No, you're definitely a Zabini," he said, taking his time to look her over. She still had long hair, but instead of being mousy brown and way too curly for her short frame, it was black with only a small curl at the very ends. Her eyes, instead of the coffee brown he had become accustomed to, were the cerulean blue that had made the Zabini line well sought after as mates. Her big blue eyes were lined with long, dark lashes. "Gee Granger, I don't know how you could stand living in that bushy haired Mudblood body all this time when you knew all along that you were _this_," he remarked.

"Hah," she snorted. "I actually prefer the homely look, Dray-kie." She winked.

"You won't when I'm through with you," he retorted. Before she had the chance to remark, he had her pressed up against the rotting wall of the Shrieking Shack, hungrily claiming her mouth as his own. She tried in vain to push him off, but eventually gave in to temptation and kissed him back hungrily.

Hermione's eyes fluttered open as Draco began to trail butterfly kissed down her neck. The first thing she saw was not Draco's blonde hair, but several pairs of eyes above her, gaping at hers and Draco's obvious public display of affection. 'Strange,' she thought. 'I was under the impression that nobody came up this way.' That was when it clicked in her mind that if she was looking up at them and they were looking down at her then she had to be on the ground. 'Well, that explains this weight on top of me,' she thought, turning her head to look at Draco. "Draco?" she murmured against his ear.

"Mm?" he moaned, too busy marking her neck to ask a proper 'What?'

"We have company." He didn't respond in the slightest and just kept working on her neck, not showing any signs of slowing in the near future. Taking matters into her own hands, Hermione bit down on his ear hard, causing him to yelp and break their intimate embrace. She took a minute to relish in the fact that Draco Malfoy yelps, before being interrupted by his shouts.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, GR—" he immediately stopped his tirade, nothing, for the first time, the pack of eyes unabashedly staring. "Who the bloody hell are you all? Voyeurs? Well? Move along, then!" Draco yelled.

"Draco, you can't except them to just follow your every command," Hermione sighed. As she turned to motion to the group of onlookers, all she saw were their quickly retreating backs. "Humph, maybe so..."

"My dear, Hermione, when will you ever learn? The power that comes with being a Malfoy is immeasurable. Same with being a Zabini, you know. Our families are two of the most powerful in the entire wizarding world.

"Except I'm a Granger," Hermione interjected.

"But tomorrow, the rumor mill of Hogwarts and the rest of the wizarding world will be buzzing about the hardcore snogging session between Draco Malfoy and some Zabini girl nobody has ever heard of before. You'll be as good as a Zabini then. And, after this rumor mill gets going, my father will wait a couple days before mailing me and saying something to the effect of, 'A Zabini, Draco? Good match, but why have I never heard of a female Zabini your age? Answer me or suffer the consequences!' he said in a horrible impression of his father. "I'll then reply with something like 'Why Father, I don't know what you're talking about. The only Zabini I know is Blaise and he is most assuredly male.' or something equally disrespectful and snarky.

"Your biological parents will get in touch with you, as well, I'm sure, asking what the hell you think you're doing with your glamour off and with a Malfoy. They'll probably throw in something about being severely disappointed in you blah blah blah," Draco added.

"That works in our favor though."

"How the bloody hell does drawing attention to ourselves possibly help us?"

"Well, attention will only be drawn to you and if you're seen being eternally good, then nobody will suspect you for..." she trailed off, leaving Draco to connect the dots. "And even if you do deny my existence, it plants the seeds. Those people saw a female Zabini. When we take power, they'll get to say 'I told you so!' to all of their friends and will be easier to turn over to our regime."

"I take a trip to the girl's loo quite frequently to check on an illegally-brewing polyjuice potion. How do you want me to explain that, should I get caught?" he smarmy asked.

"You won't have to. The potion's finished tomorrow night. I'll do the final preparations; you gather your people and we'll all meet in the Restricted Section of the library at midnight. Hermione stood, pulling Draco with her, and began walking into the bustling town of Hogsmeade.


	11. Chapter 10

**Turning Points: Chapter Ten**

"The good guys always do the right thing—even if they don't want to."

"So you're saying Harry's the good guy?"

"In the perspective of good versus evil, yes."

"Mm... and what about the bad guys?" she asked.

"That, m'dear, would be us."

Draco and Hermione were seated in a booth at the back of a bustling restaurant in Hogsmeade talking about what would be mentioned at the meeting when they got sidetracked.

Hermione had voiced her worries that Harry would decide he didn't want to have anything to do with Voldemort, just like he had said, but Draco, in his infinite wisdom, had brought up the fact that Harry was bound by the laws of Gryffindor goody-goody's all over the world to do the right thing—regardless of the end result.

Attempting to get her mind on other, less stressful things, Draco changed the subject. "About the meeting, Hermione..."

"Yes?"

"I think we should go as ourselves. Or you as _this _you, anyway," he said.

"I don't know, Draco. That might be a little bit too risky—Blaise _is _going to be there."

"Look, it'll be fine. He doesn't remember your first offer and it makes sense for them to know at least one of their leaders by face, if not name."

"You seem to forget, _Malfoy_, that I am the one in control. You're merely my second-in-command. And a second-rate one, at that," she added as an afterthought.

"I don't think so, Granger," he growled. "We're either equals or you're on your own."

"That's just bloody brilliant. I was fine with planning this before you came along and I'll be just as fine without you."

Draco stood and began walking away, furious he had opened his big mouth and even more pissed off that she'd just let him go so easily. He wasn't generally one to get attached to people, girls in particular, so he was not used to the feelings of sadness and rejection overwhelming him.

"You're the one who'll suffer, you know," she called after him. Draco stopped dead in his tracks and waited for her next words. "I mean, you're the one stuck at the head of the line to become a Death Eater like Daddy Dearest. There's no way to get out of that, as far as I can tell. You'll be just another lackey to a disillusioned half blood bent on the purification of a race he can't even technically claim he fully belongs to. But have fun, _Draco_. I know I will."

He finally turned around and headed back to their table, once again passing several booths full of curious patrons, all looking back and forth between himself and Hermione. He gave them all a glare that told them to bugger off and not be so nosy. When he arrived back at their table, Hermione was still sitting almost exactly as she had been before. Draco's smug face adopted a shocked look for the first time since he could remember.

There was an evil glint in her eyes and smile on her face that slightly frightened Draco. He was used to his father's threats and demands, but the maliciousness Hermione's face was capable of conveying made Lucius' tortures seem like child's play. Her blue eyes shone with anger and it worried him almost as much as it scared him. He was okay with Hermione being twisted and evil—it excited him to some extent, but the level of utter cruelty that shone in her face was definitely not something the Hermione Granger he knew was capable of, even as mad at Voldemort as she was.

"So," he said, "you're in charge and I'm chopped liver, to quote an American Muggle?"

"Basically, yes," she replied, nodding her head.

Draco was glad to see the evil look was quickly retreating from her face and she was soon back to looking like the Hermione Zabini he had met earlier that day at the Shrieking Shack. "I hardly find that fair," he drawled.

"That's your prerogative. Just as it's my prerogative to not care. It's my plan so I'm in charge." She smirked.

"And what about after the plan has been completed? What then?" he asked.

"Then we can form a new plan."

"No, I refuse to allow you to claim total control over me."

"Draco, you can refuse all you want. I don't care. But what is, is, and it will bloody well stay that way!"

"No. we do this together, as a team, equals, partners..."

"You do realize you're pushing your luck here, right?"

"Malfoys don't push their luck. We take charge and succeed."

"That is a load of Slytherin bollocks," she replied.

"Yes and your parents must have been so disappointed when you were sorted into Gryffindor."

She snorted. "I believe they cried for days, yes."

"So?"

"So what?"

"So... we're equals in this little game we're playing?"

"Draco..." she warned.

"No, darling, you agree to us being equals or I'll go to Dumbledore under the influence of Veritaserum and tell him everything." Draco smiled a nasty smile and gave her a look that said, 'You know I'll do it, too.'

"Find, Malfoy."

'And another point is awarded to Draco Malfoy,' he thought, triumphantly. Feeling sure of himself, he asked, "Now that that's settled, who am I going to be after I take the polyjuice?"

"Hah, if you think I'm going to tell you everything just because you blackmailed me into letting you rule by my side rather than below me, you're bonkers. _That _will be one of my surprises for you."

"Come on, Hermione, that's not fair at all. I need time to analyze the person's movements and language to make it seem real," he said, attempting to appeal to her logical side.

"Oh, you'll have no trouble with this one, Dray-kie."

"POTTER!" he roared, looking at himself in the mirror. "You turned me into POTTER?"

"Yup," she replied.

"You are one very sick and twisted wench! My body has been defiled! Now I know why my father swore off Zabini women. The whole lot of you is barking mad!"

"Yup."

Draco eventually turned away from the dirty mirror entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, framed with rusty snakes, and ended up coming face to face with Moaning Myrtle. Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell Hermione was trying her hardest to not snicker at his predicament.

Groaning, he said, "Hello Myrtle."

"Ooh, Harry Potter! Why haven't you come to see me lately?" she asked, already starting to break out in sobs. "Nobody cares about poor old Myrtle, stuck in the U-bend all day with nobody..." Myrtle trailed off and began full-out wailing, heading back to her stall.

Draco, still mad Hermione had turned him into his worst enemy, called out to stop her. "Wait, Myrtle! I care! In fact, when I die, would you mind too terribly much if I shared your toilet?

If Moaning Myrtle noticed the mischievous glint in his eyes, she dismissed it. "Ooh! Really?" she asked, her ghost-like face turning colors into what Draco and Hermione could only assume was a blush.

"Yes, Myrtle. It'll be great fun!" he said with his voice full of mock enthusiasm. Myrtle only giggled, flew back to her toilet and submerged, splashing water all over the place.

Hermione was thoroughly confused. "How did you know she offered to share her toilet with Harry?" she demanded.

"Did she? I was just trying to make the wanker enjoy his last few weeks with Moaning Myrtle following him all over the place declaring her love for the four-eyed snot."

"Hah, I like the fact that you're still harboring animosity toward the so called 'four-eyed snot' even though he's the one who will end up helping us the most."

"Yes, but he will help us the most by dying. And that is unwittingly, on his part. I don't see you acting all giddy and friendly towards him either. _You _are the one intent on ki—"

"DON'T SAY IT! Somebody could be listening!" she hissed.

"In the girl's loo? Or more specifically, in the girl's loo in which Moaning Myrtle resides? Get it together, Granger. Even you can't be that thick. Or I didn't think you could be anyway."

"Put a cork in it, Malfoy, and let's go." She picked up a red and gold flask for around the neck and handed it to him.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "It's Gryffindor-ish."

"And you are currently Harry Potter and need to take a certain medicine every hour once the meeting starts. For all that talk about Malfoys being the best, you sure are lacking in the brains department, aren't you?"

"Shut your gob, Granger. Malfoys are the best. I should know, I am one."

Hermione just laughed as she gathered their things and got ready to head to the Room of Requirement to prepare for the meeting, motioning for Draco to follow.

'Stupid bint. I'm not following her like some love-sick puppy. Even if I suppose I technically could be classified as such if I was a lower specimen of man, but that's not the point. I am a Malfoy. I don't take orders from anyone, much less a one-time Mudblood.' Draco was completely beside himself that she had the audacity to laugh at his supreme status as a Malfoy and ignored her request to follow her. Instead, he headed for the Slytherin dungeons for some peace and quiet time, not noticing the menacing and threatening looks he was receiving from the Slytherins currently lounging in the dark hallway.

Hermione, meanwhile, was having a conversation with who she had thought was Draco. When she didn't hear any sarcastic replies as soon as she paused for air, she stopped and turned to look at the figure standing next to her. Instead of seeing the platinum blonde hair of Draco Malfoy, she saw the mousy brown hair and slightly pudgy face of Neville Longbottom, whose emotions flickered between confused and scared before sticking on the latter.

"Oh, why, hello Neville," she said calmly, while inwardly cringing.

"Uh, hi Hermione. Why did you think I was M-Malfoy?" He actually seemed frightened at the thought.

"Oh! Well, he was walking near me and throwing insults, but I guess he got bored and left or something," she laughed, disappointed that she couldn't come up with a better excuse. 'Whoever said that Gryffindors are terrible liars definitely hit the nail on the head with that one.'

"But then wouldn't you have been yelling at him and trying to slap him or... or something else? You were being nice," Neville pointed out. After saying this, however, he blushed and looked toward the nearest portrait, looking as if he wanted to magically jump into it and run far far away. Sir Cadogan was watching the scene unfold with mild interest and seemed to be having a debate with himself over whether or not he should offer to rescue a damsel in distress or not. Apparently, even Sir Cadogan could tell that Neville would never hurt so much as a fly.

After some heavy internal debating, Hermione decided to let Neville in on her plans. "Okay Neville, everything will be explained tonight if you come to the Room of Requirement in about an hour. I think you'll like what's said. Be there! But I've got to run so see you later, okay?" Before he even had a chance to reply, Hermione dashed off in the opposite direction of where she had originally been headed.

As she raced down into the dungeons, she received almost as many strange looks as Draco had. When she finally arrived at the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room, Draco was just about to give the password. "Harry!" she called out. Draco's head snapped up and he looked around, anticipating a nice duel with the wizard.

'This time, he's the weakling,' Draco thought, triumphantly. 'What a sniveling little annoying prat! Crying and moping about like some _girl._'

After several seconds of searching and not finding anyone who looked even remotely like Harry Potter, Draco turned and sought, instead, the owner of the voice that had called out the illustrious Potter's name. Spotting Hermione, it all came rushing back to him.

"Oh," he said out loud. "I'm Potter."


	12. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **Thank you, methatweirdgirl, for pointing out my mistake. I accidentally clicked the wrong chapter when I was updating. Sorry! But this one is definitely the right chapter. :P I'm terribly sorry this has taken so long to be uploaded. College really does take a lot out of a person. Blah. But anyway, here it is- Chapter Eleven.. Enjoy! And please read&review!!

****

**Turning Points: Chapter Eleven**

Draco suddenly found himself surrounded by a large group of angry Slytherins. 'No, I take that back,' he thought. 'This is a mob of very pissed-off Slytherins, who just happen to be advancing towards me at a very rapid pace,' he gulped. Draco knew what their feelings about Potter entailed. He knew how they felt and he knew that at least half of them would have no qualms about forgoing any usage of wands and just beating the living daylight out of Harry Potter, should they get the chance.

He also knew that he was being sized up by the lot of them and that they looked like gleeful vampires closing in on some poor hapless chap who had accidentally walked down the wrong dark alley. For the first time in his six years at Hogwarts, Draco noticed how dark and gloomy the dungeons truly were. Unlike the rest of the castle, there were no windows or portraits of the outdoors lining the walls. Instead, suits of armor were positioned every few feet and each was carrying a deadly weapon. The one closest to Draco was decked out with black armor so dark that one wouldn't notice it hiding in the corner if just giving the hallway a cursory glance. Its weapon of choice was a baton-like thing with sharp, metal spikes protruding all over. At one end, there was what appeared to be an ordinary whip, but when Draco looked down, he came to the shocking realization that it was a whip of the nine tails variety. 'What is Dumbledore thinking keeping something like that in a school?'

Looking back up, he saw the Slytherins still advancing rather rapidly. Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he saw Hermione standing there staring at him with a horrified expression on her face. Her normally vibrant brown eyes were filled with fear. Draco could have sworn he saw a bit of fear flash across her face, but it was gone so quickly that he couldn't be sure.

Draco tried to motion that he'd be fine and she should get out of the dungeons, but her eyes were now glazed over and she was staring, unblinkingly, at the area just behind him. Turning back around, he saw Goyle, of all people, about to throw a punch. 'Of all the underhanded...' he started, but then realized that most Slytherins would have no problem hitting an unaware opponent. 'Even father's been known to throw a curse at an unready adversary and the Malfoy Code is firmly against "winning in any manner which would be contested at a later date." I guess the Goyle's are just too stupid to fight fair.'

Draco dodged the attack, grabbed the strange whip from the suit of armor, and, carefully grasping the tiny grip stuck in between two rather large spikes, began cracking the whip half. Spinning around again, this time to face Hermione, the gravity of the situation finally hit him. He had assumed she would be able to help him fight off the snarling pack, but unfortunately for him, she was still out of it. 'What a great time to be off in la-la land, Granger,' he thought miserably. That was when he noticed Pansy Parkinson slowly drawing her wand out toward Hermione, ready to start slinging curses.

Groaning, he thought, 'This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? First I'm transformed into Potter, then I get surrounded by a bunch of Slytherins _still_ transformed as Potter, then I realize I have to fight my way out of the dungeons and now I have to fend off Hermione's attackers too _all the while looking like Harry bloody Potter_.'

"Drop it, Parkinson," Draco shouted, in what he hoped was a Gryffindor enough voice. When she turned her head slightly, he cracked the whip and took a menacing step in her direction. Pansy, however, didn't lower her wand. If anything, she held it even more firmly and looked even more determined to hex the still unmoving Hermione.

"And what'll you do if I don't, Potter? You can't save your precious mudblood girlfriend and fend off the rest of us at the same time," she pointed out.

As he realized she was right, Draco began to get really frustrated. 'Why does a professor always come around when it's Potter and me facing off?' Draco wondered. 'Do they have a special Harry-Potter-Is-In-Trouble-Ometer or something? And why won't Hermione snap out of it? She's had no problem with these impromptu duels before.'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some of the Slytherins start advancing again, while others will still casting wary glances at the deadly weapon in his hand. "Will you bloody wankers just stop for a minute?" he shouted. "I need to think."

"Oh, that's rich, Potter," Pansy chuckled. "What makes you think we'll worship you and do what you want like the rest of the world does? You're in our territory now."

Draco merely ignored her and cracked the whip again a few more times. 'Hopefully,' he thought, 'somebody will hear it and come to investigate.'

They kept up this game of advance and retreat for so long that Draco thought his hand was going to fall off from the sheer amount of strength it took to snap it each time. It was, however, when his body started aching that he knew he was in trouble. 'Oh bollocks, now the Polyjuice is wearing off.' He groaned. 'This day does just keep getting better and better.'

Meanwhile, Hermione had been undergoing a lot of mental turmoil. She genuinely cared for Draco and seeing him surrounded by Death Eater spawn made her freeze. Even disguised as Harry, she knew it was Draco. She could feel him and was surprised the Slytherins couldn't too. It was just too much for her and the images and emotions she had been suppressing for so long were pushing their way to the surface despite her inner pleas for it all to just stop.

After a few more seconds of dealing with her inner voices, Hermione yelled, "ENOUGH!"

Hearing this, the Slytherins not already advancing on Hermione stopped their assault on Draco and spun around to face her. Taking advantage of his housemates backs being turned, Draco ran and hid behind one of the larger suits of armor in the hallways before he felt his hair fall into his face, golden and soft, and before his features fully sharpened back to their original state.

Hazarding a glance around the side of the suit of armor, Draco's worst fears were confirmed. Hermione was giving off an aloof and in-control vibe, but everything else about her betrayed that emotion. Her wand was drawn and pointed at Blaise. Draco could tell that many of the Slytherins were backing down, but some of the older and more daring of the bunch were starting to verbally assault her, waiting for her to make the first move.

He snorted at the fact that members of his own house would back from a common Mudblood. 'That'll have to change,' he thought. 'It was a smart thing to do; Granger's tough and too smart for her own good, but it won't be like this next year. We'll rule this place,' he vowed.

Looking into the armor, he saw that he was finally back to his normal Malfoy appearance. Thanking whatever gods had made him dress in plain slacks and a t-shirt instead of school robes, Draco stepped out from behind the knight and strode arrogantly up to the scene.

"What is going on here?" he demanded.

Simpering, a small boy with black hair responded, "The Mudblood came down to our dungeons and the 7th years have decided to have a little bit of fun. It'll be fun to watch"

"Potter and Weasley's Mudblood?" he asked, disgusted at the kid's eagerness to watch somebody else do all the dirty work.

"Yeah, her," the kid said. If Draco had to guess, he would've thought him a second year, at best. 'He actually looks a little like Potter,' Draco mused. 'Change his eye color, add glasses and cut some hair off and they could be twins.'

Grunting, Draco roughly pushed his way through the crowd, not caring if he hurt anybody—they had all ganged up on him. 'Sure, I looked like Potter, but it was still me,' he whined to himself. When he got to the front, he said, "Well, well... what have we got here? A Mudblood?"

Hermione's only response was to move her wand from Blaise's face to Draco's. He did notice a playful gleam in her eyes and was shocked she could even think of messing around when it was a likely possibility she would be killed by the mob of Slytherins, angry about her trespassing into their territory.

He glanced at her wand before mocking her. "That wand won't do you any good down here, Granger. Where are your boyfriends? No bodyguards to protect you today?"

At asking this, several Slytherins roared in outrage. Draco heard somebody say, "Where'd Potter go?" and he laughed derisively.

"You mean you had them _both _down here and let one get away?" They just nodded sadly. "Well, guess we're stuck with just one test subject today then," Draco said, taking control of the situation and not caring that he was about to be bossing 7th years around. It was something he did quite often and even the elder Slytherin's knew better than to mess with a Malfoy.

Draco turned back to Hermione and raised an eyebrow. She merely shrugged and kept her wand trained at his chest.

"Aww, c'mon Granger, we're all friends here." Snickers broke out all around them.

All the while this was happening, Hermione was inwardly seething. She didn't find it even slightly fair that Draco was able to tease her like this when she knew that if she even tried to speak out against precious Draco Malfoy, she'd be dead and mutilated beyond recognition in seconds. "I'll believe it when you beat me in a duel," she smirked.

"Is that a challenge, Mudblood?" Draco growled.

"Yes, Malfoy, it is. You versus me, no holds barred and," she said, casting a careful glance around the hallway, "no audience."

Looking at the crowd around them as well, Draco tried to gauge their reaction to her proposition. From the looks he was getting, he knew he'd be disowned if he said no. He also knew that these vultures were anxious to hear about Hermione's mysterious death in tomorrow's papers, leading him to his conclusion. "Deal," he said and all around him, Slytherin's cheered.

"Good, I know of a place nobody else knows of. Follow me," she commanded.

He didn't even have to fake his look of disgust. He hated being told what to do, especially by her, but before he could respond, cheers of "Beat that Mudblood!" and "Go Draco!" rang out from some of the girls and younger boys of the group.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. Hermione was already halfway down the hall and he had to walk quickly to catch up. At the end of the hallway, however, they ran into the bulky forms of Crabbe and Goyle, who were doing an excellent job of blocking the entrance.

"Crabbe. Goyle," Draco said stiffly, nodding to each in turn. They merely grunted and moved aside to let him pass. As Hermione started to walk through though, the two Slytherins moved back to their original positions of blocking the hallway. "Move you two," Draco demanded. "I have to show the Mudblood here a thing or two about dueling, not that she could ever master it, having filthy blood and all..." he trailed off.

After looking dumbly at one another for a few moments, Crabbe and Goyle finally moved aside to allow Hermione barely enough space to pass.

When she finally made it past their enormous bulks, she started walking away again, leaving Draco behind to catch up.

Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle and gave an exasperated sigh, "Mudbloods; can't live with them, can't Avada Kedavra them at school." They snickered and he shook his head and turned to follow the quickly disappearing backside of Hermione Granger. But before he started walking away, he turned to Crabbe and Goyle and said, "And don't forget about the meeting tonight. Be there early." He gave them a warning glare before turning back around and walking away.


	13. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **This has taken me so long, I know! My only excuse is school and that one isn't even so great. I'll hopefully be able to write/update more often now that finals are almost over, but you never know. Work is getting tough. Anyway, I'm sure all three of you reading this are excited for the new chapter (hah, or not) so here it is! Please R/R! :)

**Turning Points: Chapter Twelve**

Draco suddenly found himself surrounded by a large group of angry Slytherins. 'No, I take that back,' he thought. 'This is a mob of very pissed-off Slytherins, who just happen to be advancing towards me at a very rapid pace,' he gulped. Draco knew what their feelings about Potter entailed. He knew how they felt and he knew that at least half of them would have no qualms about forgoing any usage of wands and just beating the living daylight out of Harry Potter, should they get the chance.

He also knew that he was being sized up by the lot of them and that they looked like gleeful vampires closing in on some poor hapless chap who had accidentally walked down the wrong dark alley. For the first time in his six years at Hogwarts, Draco noticed how dark and gloomy the dungeons truly were. Unlike the rest of the castle, there were no windows or portraits of the outdoors lining the walls. Instead, suits of armor were positioned every few feet and each was carrying a deadly weapon. The one closest to Draco was decked out with black armor so dark that one wouldn't notice it hiding in the corner if just giving the hallway a cursory glance. Its weapon of choice was a baton-like thing with sharp, metal spikes protruding all over. At one end, there was what appeared to be an ordinary whip, but when Draco looked down, he came to the shocking realization that it was a whip of the nine tails variety. 'What is Dumbledore thinking keeping something like that in a school?'

Looking back up, he saw the Slytherins still advancing rather rapidly. Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he saw Hermione standing there staring at him with a horrified expression on her face. Her normally vibrant brown eyes were filled with fear. Draco could have sworn he saw a bit of fear flash across her face, but it was gone so quickly that he couldn't be sure.

Draco tried to motion that he'd be fine and she should get out of the dungeons, but her eyes were now glazed over and she was staring, unblinkingly, at the area just behind him. Turning back around, he saw Goyle, of all people, about to throw a punch. 'Of all the underhanded…' he started, but then realized that most Slytherins would have no problem hitting an unaware opponent. 'Even father's been known to throw a curse at an unready adversary and the Malfoy Code is firmly against "winning in any manner which would be contested at a later date." I guess the Goyle's are just too stupid to fight fair.'

Draco dodged the attack, grabbed the strange whip from the suit of armor, and, carefully grasping the tiny grip stuck in between two rather large spikes, began cracking the whip half. Spinning around again, this time to face Hermione, the gravity of the situation finally hit him. He had assumed she would be able to help him fight off the snarling pack, but unfortunately for him, she was still out of it. 'What a great time to be off in la-la land, Granger,' he thought miserably. That was when he noticed Pansy Parkinson slowly drawing her wand out toward Hermione, ready to start slinging curses.

Groaning, he thought, 'This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? First I'm transformed into Potter, then I get surrounded by a bunch of Slytherins _still_ transformed as Potter, then I realize I have to fight my way out of the dungeons and now I have to fend off Hermione's attackers too _all the while looking like Harry bloody Potter_.'

"Drop it, Parkinson," Draco shouted, in what he hoped was a Gryffindor enough voice. When she turned her head slightly, he cracked the whip and took a menacing step in her direction. Pansy, however, didn't lower her wand. If anything, she held it even more firmly and looked even more determined to hex the still unmoving Hermione.

"And what'll you do if I don't, Potter? You can't save your precious mudblood girlfriend and fend off the rest of us at the same time," she pointed out.

As he realized she was right, Draco began to get really frustrated. 'Why does a professor always come around when it's Potter and me facing off?' Draco wondered. 'Do they have a special Harry-Potter-Is-In-Trouble-Ometer or something? And why won't Hermione snap out of it? She's had no problem with these impromptu duels before.'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some of the Slytherins start advancing again, while others will still casting wary glances at the deadly weapon in his hand. "Will you bloody wankers just stop for a minute?" he shouted. "I need to think."

"Oh, that's rich, Potter," Pansy chuckled. "What makes you think we'll worship you and do what you want like the rest of the world does? You're in our territory now."

Draco merely ignored her and cracked the whip again a few more times. 'Hopefully,' he thought, 'somebody will hear it and come to investigate.'

They kept up this game of advance and retreat for so long that Draco thought his hand was going to fall off from the sheer amount of strength it took to snap it each time. It was, however, when his body started aching that he knew he was in trouble. 'Oh bollocks, now the Polyjuice is wearing off.' He groaned. 'This day does just keep getting better and better.'

Meanwhile, Hermione had been undergoing a lot of mental turmoil. She genuinely cared for Draco and seeing him surrounded by Death Eater spawn made her freeze. Even disguised as Harry, she knew it was Draco. She could feel him and was surprised the Slytherins couldn't too. It was just too much for her and the images and emotions she had been suppressing for so long were pushing their way to the surface despite her inner pleas for it all to just stop.

After a few more seconds of dealing with her inner voices, Hermione yelled, "ENOUGH!"

Hearing this, the Slytherins not already advancing on Hermione stopped their assault on Draco and spun around to face her. Taking advantage of his housemates backs being turned, Draco ran and hid behind one of the larger suits of armor in the hallways before he felt his hair fall into his face, golden and soft, and before his features fully sharpened back to their original state.

Hazarding a glance around the side of the suit of armor, Draco's worst fears were confirmed. Hermione was giving off an aloof and in-control vibe, but everything else about her betrayed that emotion. Her wand was drawn and pointed at Blaise. Draco could tell that many of the Slytherins were backing down, but some of the older and more daring of the bunch were starting to verbally assault her, waiting for her to make the first move.

He snorted at the fact that members of his own house would back from a common Mudblood. 'That'll have to change,' he thought. 'It was a smart thing to do; Granger's tough and too smart for her own good, but it won't be like this next year. We'll rule this place,' he vowed.

Looking into the armor, he saw that he was finally back to his normal Malfoy appearance. Thanking whatever gods had made him dress in plain slacks and a t-shirt instead of school robes, Draco stepped out from behind the knight and strode arrogantly up to the scene.

"What is going on here?" he demanded.

Simpering, a small boy with black hair responded, "The Mudblood came down to our dungeons and the 7th years have decided to have a little bit of fun. It'll be fun to watch"

"Potter and Weasley's Mudblood?" he asked, disgusted at the kid's eagerness to watch somebody else do all the dirty work.

"Yeah, her," the kid said. If Draco had to guess, he would've thought him a second year, at best. 'He actually looks a little like Potter,' Draco mused. 'Change his eye color, add glasses and cut some hair off and they could be twins.'

Grunting, Draco roughly pushed his way through the crowd, not caring if he hurt anybody—they had all ganged up on him. 'Sure, I looked like Potter, but it was still me,' he whined to himself. When he got to the front, he said, "Well, well… what have we got here? A Mudblood?"

Hermione's only response was to move her wand from Blaise's face to Draco's. He did notice a playful gleam in her eyes and was shocked she could even think of messing around when it was a likely possibility she would be killed by the mob of Slytherins, angry about her trespassing into their territory.

He glanced at her wand before mocking her. "That wand won't do you any good down here, Granger. Where are your boyfriends? No bodyguards to protect you today?"

At asking this, several Slytherins roared in outrage. Draco heard somebody say, "Where'd Potter go?" and he laughed derisively.

"You mean you had them _both _down here and let one get away?" They just nodded sadly. "Well, guess we're stuck with just one test subject today then," Draco said, taking control of the situation and not caring that he was about to be bossing 7th years around. It was something he did quite often and even the elder Slytherin's knew better than to mess with a Malfoy.

Draco turned back to Hermione and raised an eyebrow. She merely shrugged and kept her wand trained at his chest.

"Aww, c'mon Granger, we're all friends here." Snickers broke out all around them.

All the while this was happening, Hermione was inwardly seething. She didn't find it even slightly fair that Draco was able to tease her like this when she knew that if she even tried to speak out against precious Draco Malfoy, she'd be dead and mutilated beyond recognition in seconds. "I'll believe it when you beat me in a duel," she smirked.

"Is that a challenge, Mudblood?" Draco growled.

"Yes, Malfoy, it is. You versus me, no holds barred and," she said, casting a careful glance around the hallway, "no audience."

Looking at the crowd around them as well, Draco tried to gauge their reaction to her proposition. From the looks he was getting, he knew he'd be disowned if he said no. He also knew that these vultures were anxious to hear about Hermione's mysterious death in tomorrow's papers, leading him to his conclusion. "Deal," he said and all around him, Slytherin's cheered.

"Good, I know of a place nobody else knows of. Follow me," she commanded.

He didn't even have to fake his look of disgust. He hated being told what to do, especially by her, but before he could respond, cheers of "Beat that Mudblood!" and "Go Draco!" rang out from some of the girls and younger boys of the group.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. Hermione was already halfway down the hall and he had to walk quickly to catch up. At the end of the hallway, however, they ran into the bulky forms of Crabbe and Goyle, who were doing an excellent job of blocking the entrance.

"Crabbe. Goyle," Draco said stiffly, nodding to each in turn. They merely grunted and moved aside to let him pass. As Hermione started to walk through though, the two Slytherins moved back to their original positions of blocking the hallway. "Move you two," Draco demanded. "I have to show the Mudblood here a thing or two about dueling, not that she could ever master it, having filthy blood and all…" he trailed off.

After looking dumbly at one another for a few moments, Crabbe and Goyle finally moved aside to allow Hermione barely enough space to pass.

When she finally made it past their enormous bulks, she started walking away again, leaving Draco behind to catch up.

Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle and gave an exasperated sigh, "Mudbloods; can't live with them, can't Avada Kedavra them at school." They snickered and he shook his head before turning to follow the quickly disappearing backside of Hermione Granger. Before he started walking away, though, he turned to Crabbe and Goyle and said, "And don't forget about the meeting tonight. Be there early." He gave them a warning glare before turning back around and walking away.


	14. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** The wait for this one was horrible. I'm soooo sorry! I write out everything on paper before I type it up and I forgot my notebook at home when I came back to school from break and had to wait until one of my parents could bring it to me. I tried to write without it, but it had all of my notes and stuff so the first five or so drafts of this chapter were HORRIBLE! This chapter isn't even complete, I just thought something was better than nothing. Hopefully I'll get the rest written sometime soon! Remember: Read/Review! :)

**Turning Points: Chapter 13**

Hurrying after Hermione Granger was not Draco's idea of an enjoyable evening. He was quickly running out of what little patience he possessed and couldn't figure out why she continually stormed off angry, which only served to irritate him even more.' I save the stupid bint from a good majority of the Slytherins at this school and don't even get anything in return. This is why I leave all of this 'good guy' stuff to the Gryffindors—a Malfoy should be showered with praise for every little thing. Saving her life definitely has earned me more that the view of her hastily retreating backside,' he thought grumpily.

Rather than pouting, which Draco considered to be beneath him anyway, he called after her. "Granger, if you don't slow your pretty little arse down, I swear I'll—" Draco was cut off by the sudden appearance of a wand in his face.

"Or you'll _what_, ferret?" Harry Potter demanded.

"Bloody—where'd you come from, Potter?"

"What're you trying to do to 'Mione?" Harry asked, further emphasizing his hatred for the Slytherin by taking on the dueling stance Gilderoy Lockhart had taught them second year.

Hermione pushed between the two and before Draco could respond, she said, "We're going to duel, Harry. I got trapped in the dungeons and the only thing I could think of to do was to challenge Malfoy here to a private duel." Exasperation was clearly evident in her voice and Harry saw her roll her eyes before looking back at him.

"What were you doing in the dungeons?" he asked, momentarily looking away from Draco.

That moment was all Draco needed and in an instant he had his wand out and level with Harry's. Harry turned back to Draco and the boys shared mutual glares.

Still hoping to dispel the situation, Hermione began, "I, um... I needed to ask Professor Snape something about that paper he assigned. I wasn't sure whether or not to include the ingredients as a part of the length, although I do already have seven scrolls written…" She trailed off and put on a thoughtful face, mumbling to herself as she always did when she was working on school work.

Harry and Draco had mixed reactions to her response. Draco wondered where she found time to do any work at all given the amount of time she spent researching and practicing for their side project. He also wondered where she learned to lie like that. 'Makes you wonder how close the Wonder Trio really was,' he mused.

For his part, Harry started laughing. "Only you would venture alone into the dungeons to ask about adding even more extra roles to your homework. And to Professor Snape at that!"

Hermione and Draco looked at each other and let out silent breaths of relief. They joy was short lived, however, for Harry had stopped laughing and was now full of more questions.

"Er, Hermione," he began, glancing at Draco. "Professor Snape's classroom and office are in a different corridor from the Slytherin common rooms." He turned to Hermione with a deadly look on his face. "There's no reason for you to have been down that hallway with the ferret."

Hermione's face paled, but before she could respond, Draco spoke up. "Wait a minute, Potter. How do you know where our common room is?"

His menacing glare met Harry's furious one and the two wizards stared at each other until the silence was broken by the clicking of Hermione's shoes as she took a tentative step forward. Even the paintings on the walls had been silent, watching the scene unfold before them and anticipating the hearty gossip they would be able to spread at the end of this face-off. Hermione didn't care much about the portraits, though. She was just glad that no other students had shown up yet to egg either party on.

'The last thing we need right now is a full-out duel,' she thought.

Breaking Hermione's train of thought, Harry said, "Maybe it's because I've been there, Malfoy."

Hermione shook her head. 'There goes any hope of that.' She couldn't believe Harry was doing this and was about to comment when a portrait to her right of an old man wearing a dark green wizards hat spoke up. "What's this? A Gryffindor in the Slytherin common room? Why that's preposterous! Not even Godric Gryffindor himself ever saw the Slytherin rooms!"

Violet, The Fat Lady's friend, was also apparently housed in this hallway for she and The Fat Lady were crowded into a portrait for too small for either of them and watching the scene with bated breath.

"It's not possible," Draco said.

Hermione wasn't sure if Draco was reassuring the portrait, himself or just refuting the claim, but he kept his slanted eyes focused on Harry.

Harry took this as his cue to prove and took his time describing the look and feel of the Slytherin common room. "I especially liked how the all of the green matched my eyes so well," he added at the end of his little speech.

While Harry was spouting off random details about the room, Hermione took the chance to watch him. He was acting strange. The last time she had spoken to him, he had been so moody and grouchy and an all-around pain. Now, however, he was acting more jovial than his old self.


End file.
